I’ve written quite a few blog posts at this point, and most of them are talking about how YOU need to make sure that you have adequate insurance coverage.

I’ve gone over everything from Workers Comp to Third Party Property Damage and everything in between. However, we haven’t talked about an important aspect of insurance: Making sure OTHER PEOPLE have adequate insurance coverage. 

Read the Fine Print on the Insurance Certificate

I have a client who operates a rental house so he can rent his film equipment to others. He does some film productions of his own but the rental house business generates some nice side income. We cover his insurance needs for both businesses so he has what he needs. However, we can’t control the insurance policies of everyone that rents his equipment.

Unfortunately, he recently rented out his equipment to somebody whose policy contained an exclusion known as the “Unattended Vehicle Exclusion.” This exclusion states that the insurance policy doesn’t cover equipment kept in an unlocked car or that’s left unprotected. The bad thing was that my client didn’t know that he needed to ask about that. He had no idea that the exclusion was going to come back to haunt him later. He figured that he got a proper certificate and that’s all that’s needed, right?

I’ve already written a blog post about what rental houses should look for in a certificate. In there, I explain why it is essential that you’re on top of what your client’s insurance policy says. In this case, my client was thankfully insured by his own policy. But now his insurance company is paying out almost $80,000, and they are not going to be renewing his policy due to the increased claims.

Need More Information on Insurance Coverage?

Make sure you carefully review certificates and have a strong rental agreement, or you could be out $80k as well! Feel free to call me with any questions on insurance certificates and rental house insurance.